Coordinated actions in international economic law as illustrated by investment treaty arbitration and world trade organization disputes

TY - CHAP

T1 - Coordinated actions in international economic law as illustrated by investment treaty arbitration and world trade organization disputes

AU - Tereposky, Greg

AU - Nielsen, Laura

PY - 2016/1/1

Y1 - 2016/1/1

N2 - The interaction between different areas of international economic law This chapter examines the interaction between different areas of international economic law as illustrated by the interaction between the law of investment treaties and the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This interaction must be viewed from the perspective of the parties invoking international economic law as well as from the perspective of the dispute settlement bodies that interpret and apply international economic law. The proliferation of value chains and cross-border investment has increased the level of integration in global commerce. Combined with the increased sophistication of the commercial entities making up that commerce, international commercial problems are increasingly being resolved by invoking in a coordinated manner one or more elements of the multilayered environment that makes up international economic law. This environment comprises public international law reflected in multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral trade and investment treaties as well as private international commercial law. This environment is, itself, becoming more complex with the negotiation of new trade and investment agreements that cover broader subject matter in greater detail than in the past. In the commercial world, different areas of international economic law are not viewed as independent silos but, rather, they are viewed cumulatively because they offer different opportunities to resolve commercial problems. Depending on the circumstances and the interests of the affected commercial entities, one or more different areas of international economic law may be invoked by or at the behest of the affected commercial entities to resolve a particular economic problem. This reality is illustrated by entities, through their governments, invoking in parallel the dispute settlement procedures in regional trade agreements and the WTO as well as by entities in their private capacity initiating investor-state claims and, through their governments, parallel WTO disputes. This chapter focuses on the latter. The complex nature of international economic law and its staged development from the multilateral model of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (GATT 1947), through to the negotiation of the WTO Agreements, and the more recent proliferation of regional trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties, have naturally led to the cross-fertilization of principles and concepts between these different areas of international economic law.

AB - The interaction between different areas of international economic law This chapter examines the interaction between different areas of international economic law as illustrated by the interaction between the law of investment treaties and the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This interaction must be viewed from the perspective of the parties invoking international economic law as well as from the perspective of the dispute settlement bodies that interpret and apply international economic law. The proliferation of value chains and cross-border investment has increased the level of integration in global commerce. Combined with the increased sophistication of the commercial entities making up that commerce, international commercial problems are increasingly being resolved by invoking in a coordinated manner one or more elements of the multilayered environment that makes up international economic law. This environment comprises public international law reflected in multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral trade and investment treaties as well as private international commercial law. This environment is, itself, becoming more complex with the negotiation of new trade and investment agreements that cover broader subject matter in greater detail than in the past. In the commercial world, different areas of international economic law are not viewed as independent silos but, rather, they are viewed cumulatively because they offer different opportunities to resolve commercial problems. Depending on the circumstances and the interests of the affected commercial entities, one or more different areas of international economic law may be invoked by or at the behest of the affected commercial entities to resolve a particular economic problem. This reality is illustrated by entities, through their governments, invoking in parallel the dispute settlement procedures in regional trade agreements and the WTO as well as by entities in their private capacity initiating investor-state claims and, through their governments, parallel WTO disputes. This chapter focuses on the latter. The complex nature of international economic law and its staged development from the multilateral model of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (GATT 1947), through to the negotiation of the WTO Agreements, and the more recent proliferation of regional trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties, have naturally led to the cross-fertilization of principles and concepts between these different areas of international economic law.

U2 - 10.1017/CBO9781316544860.005

DO - 10.1017/CBO9781316544860.005

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 9781107147102

SP - 96

EP - 118

BT - Establishing Judicial Authority in International Economic Law

A2 - Jemielniak, Joanna

A2 - Nielsen, Laura

A2 - Olsen, Henrik Palmer

PB - Cambridge University Press

CY - Cambridge

ER -